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AFFILIATE
MARKETING
A Word From
ShoeMoney
I’m Jeremy Schoemaker and I’ve been an
affiliate marketer for almost seven years.
Some of you may know me by my online
nickname, “ShoeMoney,” which I use on
my blog and social media.
I came from a humble background and
have a very limited education – I meant
it, I barely made it through high school. I
was struggling on unemployment for
years, until I discovered Affiliate
Marketing back in 2005. Not to make
this sound like a cheesy scheme, but I on my blog and occasionally saturated my own market. So I’m more than
was able to go from unemployment to a happy to walk through every step of affiliate marketing with you, and help
net worth of over 10 million dollars in out anyone willing and ready to learn.
just a couple of years. Really, if I could
do it, so can you. We’ll start with the basics of becoming an affiliate and advance from there.
I’ll also walk you through everything an affiliate marketer should know
I’ve always believed in transparency, to about compliance, testing, networks, case studies and avoiding fraud. Let’s
the point where I’ve outlined my tactics do this thing!
C h a p t e r s
1. WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING? 6. ADVERTISER’S PERSPECTIVE
2. GET STARTED: AFFILIATE 101 7. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
3. LANDING PAGES AND TESTING 8. TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
4. DOLLARS & SENSE: AVOID FRAUD 9. CASE STUDIES
5. ADVANCED TACTICS 10. CONCLUSION
ADAPTED BY ROCHELLE BAILIS
What is Afﬁliate Marketing?
The Basics
In a Nutshell
Affiliate marketing often begins with a
network, which connects affiliate marketers
Afﬁliate marketing at its to companies who are looking for help in
core is essentially hiring marketing or sales. FOR EXAMPLE
a commission sales
person, but on the Companies might be seeking leads through a
I used to sell dryers at
internet. customer phone number or e-mail address,
which means they would pay you for every Sears, I’d get a 12%
new person who signs up. Or they might have commission of the sales
a difficult product to sell, and join a network price whenever I sold a
to offer affiliate marketers a percentage of each sale they bring. dryer. If I could also
interest the customer in
The network takes a piece of these interactions as a price for connecting
companies and affiliate marketers. a Sears credit card, I’d
get a flat commission of
$50. This is pretty
much how internet
affiliate marketing
works: I sell a
company’s products
online, and some
companies will pay me
a percentage of the
sales price, while others
will give me a flat
dollar value.
Popular
Markets
There are many mar
kets
afﬁliates cater to, bu
t these
are the top three yo
Why do advertisers and companies need afﬁliate u will
likely come across:
networks?
Advertisers and product owners need networks to reach a lot of
affiliates at once. Some networks have tens of thousands of affiliates, ° Dating
many of whom have worked to sell products online for years.
Suddenly, advertisers have gained access to a virtual sales force that’s ° Religion
willing to experiment, test and improve their click rate in order to
maximize their cut. Product owners and advertises can be assured
that because they only pay in commission, they aren’t risking
° Weight Loss
losing a return on their investment. They also can be assured that
by using a network they are avoiding fraudulent affiliates who
generate fake sales or emails. photos courtesy of katiew
and baronsquirrel
Afﬁliate Marketing 101: Getting Started
PASSION WHAT YOU’LL NEED HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
I can’t stress this enough. You need to be Signing up for an intro afﬁliate network doesn’t
passionate about what you’re promoting. Afﬁliate cost money. The greatest cost when you start out
marketing is about generating creative approaches • A computer and internet connection is going to be your time. Expect at least ten hours
on a topic, and it’s very difﬁcult if you’re dedicated to doing research, signing up for a
completely unfamiliar with it. Even more • A lot of patience network, and browsing offers
importantly, you need to get in the head of a
RESEARCH FORUMS in your subject of interest
consumer. If you’re disconnected from what they • Background research before you ﬁnd one.
want, you won’t be able to sell to them. If you Resea rch for free here:
have a website or blog on this topic, you’re already
at a serious advantage.
• Digital Point
• Wickedfire
Intro To Afﬁliate Networks
Low Entry Networks Tactics on Specialized Networks
••• These are four common afﬁliate marketing strategies. Many specialized networks
I’d recommend signing up for at least will focus on one of these tactics, and require a more complicated registration.
two of these three intro networks. These
are low-entry networks without a review Co-Reg
process, and are great when you’re A co-registration network involves customers who are signing up
starting out. They’re also massive, so for an email list. While they are signing up, customers will be
you’ll have a range of products to choose directed to an affiliate page that says “check off any of the topics
from: you’re interested in.” For each box that the customer checks, the
affiliate marketer will receive a small commission.
•••
1.
ShareASale CPA
A cost per action network is exactly like it sounds, the marketer
2.
Clickbank
will get a commission based on a customer’s action, this
3.
Commission Junction
obviously includes a purchase, but also filling out their
information or providing an email. CPA networks often involve
weight loss, dating or the mobile industry.
•••
Lead gen
Lead generation networks collect contact information of
customers who are interested in a specific product. This often
involves health insurance or beauty products, and might be seen
in the form of “win a free iPod if you fill out this survey!”
•••
Incentivized network
This is a network that contains nothing but offers where the
affiliate marketer can actually pay consumers to complete the
affiliate’s offer.
Example: Many ringtone offers will allow you to incentivize. Let’s
say you’re getting paid $12 per conversion, you can tell a customer
you will pay them $10 to sign up for this service. You’ll be receiving a
$2 flat commission for each subscription.
Networks Cont.
Choosing the Right Network
Choosing a network depends on what you already do on your own
website, and how you want to leverage that.
Let’s say you have a dating blog, you can place a little pop-up on
your website that asks the reader if they want more information on
discounts for match.com or eharmony.com. Or if you already have a
newsletter, you can create a checkbox for users who are interested in
more information, and it will pull from the list of emails you already
have. This sort of opportunity would be ideal for co-registration.
If you cover a very specific niche on a website, a CPA network
might be your best choice. For example, I had a website on Search
Engine Optimization, and would get a flat rate every time someone
Registering for a Network bought or signed up for our partner SEO services.
•••
Other networks, such as a lead generation network, aren’t the
best for people who have websites and great content. They are for
Registering for a low-entry people who want to advertise on multiple pages, and offer people
network is a very simple process. prizes to sign up or participate.
Be prepared to provide:
Incentivized offers make sense when you receive a flat cost per
• A social security number to conversion, part of which you can offer to the customer. If you have
prove US Citizenship something of value to offer the customer, such as a free eBook, you
• Address and contact can use this as an incentive as well.
information
Note: If you denote an interest in
certain types of marketing, but a
network’s companies aren’t looking for affiliates in this space, they might automatically disapprove you. Also
remember that specialized networks often require more steps for registration and approval.
CREATING CONTENT
PRO TIP
Creating great content is, of course, pivotal for
Use Google Adsen
boosting your affiliate marketing revenue. Don’t se on
your website, not be
modify your content or subject in order to fit your cause it
will generate you re
venue,
marketing tactics; if you attempt to make a but you can see wha
t people
commission your writing will suffer. Write the are paying to advert
ise in
copy naturally and then see how you can leverage relation to your cont
ent.
it. So if you write a movie review for your film This will give you id
eas for
what to sell as an af
blog, for example, you can link to that DVD on filiate
marketer.
Amazon.
Landing Pages and Testing
Building a Landing Page Tracking Stats
Your landing page should not Each affiliate network KNOW
TERMS TO
look like an advertisement, it
provides a dashboard per click
needs to feel personal and offer ost
• CPC: c
value. If you’re trying to sell a that shows which offers
cost pe r mille
ringtone, do not go in for a are getting clicks, how • CPM: s)
sand click
(thou
hard sale, consider reviewing many and how much
the song. Include pictures, you’re making per click, in
embed the music video, talk
real time.
about the artist, then at the
bottom you can say “click here
and we’ll send the song to your What is a SubID (Tracking ID)?
phone!” This is the crux of how
affiliate marketing differs from Once you’ve narrowed down to the most successful
advertising, and it works. The offer, you can rotate the ad to different places on the
key is to test different page: a bottom bar, a top header, in the content, a
approaches. You will have sidebar… and you can label these with unique sub-
multiple offers to sell, so tracking IDs, like sub 1, sub 2, sub 3. Then you can
consider rotating them and easily track which is performing best.
seeing which ones generate a
higher click rate. Hone in on
the offers with the higher
conversions, and focus all your
energy on the one with the
highest.
Testing Tools
Google Website Optimizer
This tool allows you to test offer locations, colors and sizes,
and tells you what’s performing best.
Clicktale
This tool will track mouse movement on your page, and
collect visual data on what people are clicking and how they
experience the site.
Dollars and Sense HOW TO AVOID FR
AUD
PAID FORUMS
There is a lot of fraud
in the affiliate
marketing space, includ
A paid forum ranges ing networks that
MY PICK don’t pay. The best wa
from $30-$100 per y to avoid this is to
do your research. Goog
.com: This month, and le the name of your
IMGrind k sometimes they can network, and read wh
et you bac
at people say on
fo rum will s be worth the public forums.
s a month, money. Paid
100 dollar
ave th e best forums provide a You can also check ou
but they h space for
t a Facebook group
t there. called “Internet Dead
guides ou dedicated affiliate people will consistently
beats” where
marketers to report when they
haven’t been paid by a
share case studies and network, how
much, and for how lon
secret step-by-step guides to how g.
they are making money.
The Next Steps: Advanced Tactics
KEYWORDS
Landing Page Tip:
A great way to boost your traffic is to
track which keywords lead to your “Advertorials”
website by using Google Analytics.
You can personalize landing pages
It will show you which keywords are even more by taking an editorial
converting at a high rate, and then you angle. This could be a review, or a
can bid on them using Google personal story. Be sure that you
Adwords. Try testing keywords that are in compliance with legal
requirements, you need to be
nobody else has, sometimes that might
clear that you are advertising, but
even include misspellings, brand
even with a disclaimer people will
names, and things professional
often trust a blog-like page over a
websites don’t want to use. hard advertisement.
Advanced Tactics Cont.
Get it Built OUTSOURCE RESOURCE
You have two options: you can build a Elance provides access to
basic landing page using some HTML freelance web designers, if your
and stock photos, or you can design is simple you can probably
outsource it for fairly cheap. get a page made for less than $50.
Multivariate
Split Testing
More Testing Tips
Masking Try changing between
Google Website
Optimizer will allow
Links short form and long form
landing pages. Even
you to do something
Also referred to as
called multivariate
cloaking links, though being concise split testing. This
masking links are
links that you seems better, in some cases involves testing
don’t want Google
to recognize longer pages have more multiple variants,
on your page. Whe
n you’re success. Small changes in and splitting the
linking to pages th
at Google testing amongst
doesn’t like, mas copy can make a big
king links these different
prevent Google fro difference. Another
m penalizing variables. It will
you on its SEO ra
nkings. You can
technique is to include
then use a genetic
use services such current events that relate
as: algorithm to
to your topic. You can
determine which
include a quote from the
° Bit.ly
news source, and bring
ones are performing
better and
relevance to your ad.
° Wordpress Plug automatically focus
ins on them. In fact, the
How do you know it’s genetic algorithm
working? will automatically
pair and combine
the factors that are
Everyone always wants to know this: when testing, how do you know a
converting best for
strategy is working? Let’s say you have a page where you are running an
you. Don’t get
affiliate ad, with Google AdSense running at the overzealous with
bottom. Google AdSense will often pay the amount of
you at least $1 per thousand visitors, so a DIREC T DEALS variants you use,
good way to measure your affiliate establish especially if you
ave begun to
success is to make sure it’s outperforming Once you h ting have limited
iliate marke
AdSense at least 2 times (so $2 by the yours elf in the aff traffic. You need
kipping
time you’ve had 1000 unique visitors). space , consider s enough traffic
direct deals
networks a nd making g
in order to get
1000 is a good number for measuring isers. If you’re gettin conclusive
with advert ave data, so limit
traffic, because it’s also how a lot of ad traffic and h
significant t the amount of
clicks are priced. So for example, aim to get able contac
p ublicly avail styles at first,
mes the
one thousand visitors per page for A/B
informati on, many ti and expand
Testing, which is where you send visitors ct you
compa ny will conta with your
to two completely different sites. This is a growth.
good minimum amount of traffic to offer directly.
conclusive data on performance.
photos courtesy ofnickwheeleroz
The Advertiser’s Perspective
WHY ADVERTISERS HOW ADVERTISERS GET AFFILIATES
AFFILIATES
Afﬁliate marketers are going to If a product owner wants to join an afﬁliate network they pay a ﬂat rate
of something around $5,000 admission, which is used as a sort of
do market research, take risks and
deposit. The networks credit this deposit towards their percentage cut,
potentially even lose money
which means that the network will not be taking any more commission
getting an advertiser’s product
until they work through this deposit.
out there. The afﬁliate’s research
data is sometimes so valuable that Once in the network, the advertisers use a variety of tactics to lure
advertisers will even occasionally afﬁliate markets, like payouts or high-end product give-aways to the top
use the market research done by afﬁliates. Sometimes even Lamborghinis or BMWs. Whatever it takes to
their afﬁliate marketers and take attract the attention of the skilled afﬁliates who are already ﬁnding
it in-house. success elsewhere.
Events
Events are a great place for advertisers,
product owners, networks and affiliates
to connect face to face. This is a great
opportunity for you to connect directly
with some product owners, and ask for a
better pay out.
Here are a few big events:
1. LeadsCon
2. AdTech
3.
Direct Marketing Association
4. Afﬁliate Summit
photos courtesy of kk
MY PICK
Key Things to Look Out For
Compliance Copyright and Trademark
There are countless incredible
opportunities for affiliates, but When you’re creating an affiliate page,
there is a cost. Be sure to read FTC remember to get permission for any photos or
guidelines on disclosure and logos that you use. Even if it’s a company
terms of service, because they are you’re marketing for, never assume you can
going after people who aren’t in full
use anything because the damages on
compliance. Also keep an eye on the
infringement cases can run incredibly steep.
Affiliate Nexus Tax on affiliate
revenue, which has passed in four
states already.
SHAVING
••••••
Shaving is when new companies only
pay out some of the time, let’s say 4
out of 5 times.You often don’t have
any recourse as an afﬁliate, so be very
wary of suspiciously high payouts.
S HAVED
SCRUBBING
DON’T GET ••••••
d or
etting shave
If you th ink you’re g r Scrubbing is when a product owner
tate the offe
want to prevent it, ro other changes and speciﬁes the criteria for
between an
you’re advertising e exact
ven if it’s th which they’re willing to pay. They
netwo rk’s offer. E rotate a
ood idea to suddenly may only be willing to pay for a
same offer, it’s a g ffic
e of your tra speciﬁc demographic, so keep tabs on
sma ll percentag ur
ake sure yo
tworks to m this to be sure your revenue is not being
between ne par with
click are on
e arnings per scrubbed out.
one another.
photos courtesy of Stefán
Afﬁliate Master: Taking it to the Next Level
Retaining Users
Once you start garnering a lot of clicks and money, advertisers
might start to copy your methods. One of the best ways to
minimize this potential blow to your trafﬁc is, rather than merely
directing users to the product, retain them yourself. One of the
best ways to do this is through an Afﬁliate Cash Tree.
An Affiliate Cash Tree means that instead of linking
users to an offer, you create your own offer. For example,
invite users to sign up for a free newsletter with dating tips
by Dr. Anna. They will get an initial greeting from Dr. Anna, LEVERAGE HIGHER PAYOUTS
maybe even a picture. In another email you can include a
break-down of how to use Match.com with an affiliate link
at the bottom that will generate you commission. Next you If you’re starting to deal with a higher
can send a review of eHarmony. And so on. volume of traffic, consider negotiating
a better price with your affiliate
BENEFITS manager. Let them know that you
can handle more volume, but need
1. Personalized better payout because your margins
2. Educational value are too small. Many affiliate
3. 3-4 times the conversion rate managers get a percentage of your
traffic, so it’s in their interest to get
you a better payout.
START YOUR OWN NETWORK
NETWORK SOFTW
ARE
A successful affiliate marketer will eventually aggregate
their own database, assets and products, and at that point HasOffers.com is
free
may consider creating their own network. If you already for the first month
and
have a good payout and can pay a higher starting price $90 monthly after
that,
than other affiliate networks, it might be worth starting This network-build
ing
your own network. For example, if you moved up from an software was made
by
affiliates and is extr
initial payout of $5 to $8, you can create a network with a emely
well-designed.
starting payout of $6 and still earn money.
photos courtesy of andy doro
Afﬁliate Master Cont. RETARGETING RE
SOURCE
Complex Testing Tactics Retargeter.co
m: allows you to
and target users track
Once you’re competing with the big dogs across the intern
and follow them et
and managing a lot of traffic, there are with ads.
some very complicated options for testing.
You can test multiple times a day, see if
certain offers convert better in the morning Retargeting
and others at night. You can also look into A great way to monetize your affiliates is re-
what pages across targeting. The average person needs to interact
the web convert with a brand at least 8 times before they make
CHECK OUT better, what a buying decision, which means as an affiliate
l: a free browsers work
Link contro better with specific
marketer you’re hoping to catch a person on
roduct their 8th interaction with a brand. This leaves
open source p pages, or even if
people only a 1 in 8 chance of catching them during
that will allow there are their purchase phase. Re-targeting allows you
to test these variations
icals to track a person who has visited your landing
complicated vert between Apple page, and show them your ads as they continue
and PC users. through the internet. This is an incredible way
to bring in returns on your commission.
Afﬁliate Marketing Done Right Examples of low investment/high
reward afﬁliate projects
The Cornhusker Quiz FREE SEO REPORT: THE POWER OF “FREE”
I mentioned earlier that Netflix offers a great payout I created a site called FreeSEOreport.com that hooked
of $30-$40 for signing up a user to a free trial. I live in people in with a free SEO report on their website. The code
for the report cost me about $3000 to program, and after
Lincoln, Nebraska, and I decided to take advantage of
that the site was fairly sustainable. I would charge users
something I knew well: people’s obsession with
$10 for additional reports, but also offered another free
Cornhusker football.
report if they referred another person. This referral system
brought us from 4 to 500 people in one day.
In less than 20 minutes, I copied a free quiz template I
found online and created a Cornhusker trivia quiz We also had an affiliate program with 100% payout, which
with a Nebraska logo at the top. If you scored well, you sounds crazy, but it brought in a ton of traffic. We educated
would win a free trial of Netflix. In fact, even if you users on what they wanted to know: SEO. We would offer a
scored terribly you still won a free trial. But the point paid SEO tool with a guide on how to use it, or offer to
was the challenge; people could share it on social design a webpage for free if they use a certain web host (a
media and challenge their friends to get a better score. referral). We weren’t making money on the front end, but
on the back end they were making us $50 or $60 a piece on
commission.
This Cornhusker quiz went viral, and hundreds of
people signed up for a Netflix free trial they easily
I also ended up selling this site in 4 months flat for six
could have acquired on their own through Netflix. But
figures, due to the amount of traffic and interest it was
after the quiz they felt as if they’d earned something.
garnering from the obsession with “free.”
Conclusion
in place, and be prepared to jump on
opportunities. A lot of the things you try will
fail, and some of the most unexpected
endeavors might succeed. Don’t be
discouraged.
Secondly, compliance is incredibly important.
Keep up with FTC regulations, and have
attorneys look over your landing pages and
A Final Note on Afﬁliate Marketing terms of your offers. Look out for being
••• scrubbed, and remember that affiliate
There are a few key things I want to re- marketing probably won’t be around forever,
emphasize for those of you considering affiliate so try to build assets and a sell-able business
marketing. First, is that things change rapidly, by using the Affiliate Cash Tree method
so you need to be willing to act quickly and mentioned earlier. But for now, it’s jungle a out
keep up with the trends. Always have tracking there, so get swingin’.
photos courtesy of slorp
Resources
Jeremy's Blog: http://www.shoemoney.com/ Events:
Jeremy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ Affiliate Summit: http://www.affiliatesummit.com/
shoemoney AdTech: http://www.ad-tech.com/
Direct Marketing Association: http://www.the-
Google Resources: dma.org/index.php
Adsense: http://www.google.com/adsense LeadsCon: http://leadscon.com/
Adwords: http://adwords.google.com/
Wedbsite Optimizer: http://www.google.com/ Testing and Page Building:
websiteoptimizer Clicktale: http://www.clicktale.com/default_b
Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/ Elance: https://www.elance.com/
HasOffers: http://www.hasoffers.com/
Forums Retargeter: http://www.retargeter.com/
Digital Point Forum: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/ Bitly: https://bitly.com/
Wickedfire: http://www.wickedfire.com/
IMGrind: http://www.imgrind.com/ Networks:
Advertisers Who Don't Pay: http:// ShareASale: http://www.shareasale.com/
www.facebook.com/groups/internetdeadbeats/ ClickBank: http://www.clickbank.com/index.html
Commission Junction: http://www.cj.com/
Compliance:
FTC Website: http://www.ftc.gov/

Description:
Learn how to become an affiliate marketer, from A to Z, with this comprehensive guide by Jeremy "Shoemoney" Schoemaker, one of the most famous affiliates in the world.

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